Ireland: Kidnaping of a Guinness

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A Toyota sedan drew up to the hillside Dublin mansion of John Guinness, a local banker related to the celebrated clan of brewers. After ringing the doorbell, three hooded men, brandishing guns, forced their way into the house and began ransacking it for valuables. Then they started to make off with Guinness's daughter Gillian, 23, before acceding to the request of her mother Jennifer that they take her instead. As the hoods left, they demanded a $2.6 million ransom.

Suspicion immediately fell upon members of the Irish Republican Army, which has staged numerous similar kidnapings. The somewhat amateurish nature of the crime, however, could suggest the work of common criminals. By week's end no word had been heard from the abductors.